The present invention includes a new and distinct cultivar of Fragaria×ananassa named ‘Mayflower’, and will herein be referred to as ‘Mayflower’.
The new variety resulted from an ongoing breeding program in Kent, United Kingdom. The objectives of the breeding program were to produce a strawberry plant that produced large, firm berries with a high yield and plants that were disease resistant.
‘Mayflower’ arose from a controlled cross made by the Inventor in 1996 between unnamed strawberry plants from the Inventor's breeding program designated as accession number EM-639 as the female parent and accession number ITA 80-52-1 as the male parent. ‘Mayflower’, originally designated as accession number EM-995, was selected as a single unique plant in June 1997 from amongst the seedlings that resulted from the above cross.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar was first accomplished by rooting of stolons by the Inventor in Kent, United Kingdom. Repeated propagation has shown that the unique characteristics of ‘Mayflower’ are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.